How could we do it better? first we need to understand it!

Progressive Money Canada proposes a royal commission on banking open to all interested parties.

The purpose of the commission would be to create more transparency into the current system and map out the money creation process used by commercial banks. Measure its benefits and pitfalls and produce recommendations to improve the system for the public good.

What are other countries doing about this?

Positive Money is a monetary reform group based in the U.K.

Positive Money has approximately 50,000 supporters, with a network of 35 local groups spanning the country, and have built relationships with world-leading economists, politicians and journalists. They have a variety of publications authored by economists and supporters that propose change by taking away privately owned commercial banks ability to create money and giving to the state.

Positive Money also helped to launch the International Movement for Monetary Reform.

International Movement for Monetary Reform

Empower the BAnk of Canada

Would removing the ability of commercial banks to create money affect how we get money?

No, however the way in which money comes into existence would change and we as a people would have more say in how the money creation process is utilized. This is not a new idea and has been proposed in different forms and at various times over the past century. Below are proposals from 1936 to the present day, I have highlighted some of the text in the PDFs to quickly illustrate the main ideas. Do not be intimidated by the math, it is not needed to understand the underlying thesis.